


Take You In

by ellethom



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blended, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Feels, Foster Care, JB Week 2017, Overwhelmed Brienne, Sansa is mean, Some mentions of abuse, Ya'll know how I do, and a bully, hopefully?, no seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 07:06:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellethom/pseuds/ellethom
Summary: Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in.--Robert Frost





	1. Silver Threads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Isola_Caramella](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isola_Caramella/gifts), [WeirdDaydreamingFangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeirdDaydreamingFangirl/gifts), [december13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/december13/gifts).



> SO, this was Isola's idea, I kinda ran with it. Somehow, I ended up with three people on this gift train. 
> 
> Hope ya'll don't mind. 
> 
> This is my entry for this year's JB Week. Seven chapters, but I am not sure if I will have it all finished by the end of the festivities. 
> 
> Read if you will, and enjoy.

Hoster Blackwood pushed the black frames back onto his this nose for the umpteenth time in the last hour. It was his turn to start breakfast, as per the rules of the house. He was only six, but could load the toaster and take out the necessities for the morning meal. He had lived in the same home since he could recall; no small feat for a child that once belonged solely to the Realm. Small enough to need a chair to reach the counter, but smart enough to realize, even at his young age, how fortunate he and the rest of them were.

“You always get up too early, little man.” His father said as he strolled into the kitchen. Jaime Lannister was not a morning person and it frightened him to learn he had a son who rose early with an honest to gods smile on his narrow face. He tucked his hands under the small boy’s armpits and moved him to the table.

“I can do it.” Hoster insisted.

Jaime sat the boy on the island next to the counter. “Never doubted for a second.” He smiled. “But three hands are better than one.”

Hoster pushed his glasses up over his nose again and nodded sagely. He’s never known a father with two hands, but what he may have lacked in digits, he more than made up for in patience, kindness and love. “Should I go wake everyone?” he asked.

Jaime shook his head. “Nah, let them sleep a few minutes more.” He flashed a smile at his son. “I like the early morning quiet.” ‘With you’ were words left unsaid, but as real as the pan of bacon slowly frying.

Hoster returned his father’s smile and kicked his short legs on the cabinet doors of the massive kitchen island. He slid down and reached into the under drawers and began to set the table.  
The first zombie arrived through the kitchen door. Pia was only four months older than Hoster, but was the complete opposite of him. Long limbed and pretty grey eyes that scanned everything and missed nothing, Pia had recently come to them, she was still guarded and resisted human touch. . She scooted into her usual seat of the kitchen table, just as Jaime was serving up the platter of scrambled eggs.

Pia shook her head at her foster father, then dug into her seat while further tucking the headless stuffed animal under her chin. “Pretty Pia,” Jaime sing songed as he made a plate for the girl. 

“Are we going to have the same conversation every morning?”

She scooted further back into her chair, if that was possible. There was no smile on her face, but Hoster could see a ghost of a smile in her eyes that only another abandoned child would recognize. Pia shook her head, but pushed the plate away from herself. 

Hoster watched his father shake his head and push the plate of small bits of food to the girl. “Pia, we agreed. Remember?”

Pia nodded this time; she dangled the small fork between two, too thin fingers but eyed the food on the plate with suspicion. “It’s all right, Pia.” Hoster said from her elbow. He had placed the salt and pepper on the table just as Lew and Peck stumbled into their seats.

Pia snuck a look at the two pre-teens, eyeing them with the same trepidation as the half piece of bacon and teaspoon of eggs on her plate. Hoster took a large bite of his eggs and mmmm’ed around his mouthful of food. Lew and Peck, not to be outdone, fell into their own role in the game. Pia studied the three boys’ faces before scooping her fork into her own small pile of food. Small bits of egg dangled perilously on the very corner of the fork as she took her first tentative bite.

Hoster watched Jaime’s face flicker from worry to a bright smile. He turned then, whistling into his own plate of food. Lew and Peck, proud of themselves, tucked into the larger platters with gusto.

“What time am I supposed to be at your school today?” Jaime asked the twins. Both boys, dissimilar in appearance except for devilish grins that threatened mischief. 

“What meeting?” Lew asked.

“Hmmm,” Jaime nodded. “Perhaps I will just show up with you in class and sit with you at your desks until I am called.”

Lew grinned. “Sure, Miss Tyrell would love that.” It was no small thing in the Lannister house that Lew and Peck’s teacher made ‘dreamy eyes” at their father. “11.” Lew said finally.

“Sansa’s mother will be there too?” Peck had asked. “I bet she is as scary as Sansa.”

Jaime stood and handed out lunches. “You let me worry about that.” he said. “I’ll make sure we get this settled. No one should be bullied.”

Lew and Peck looked at each other but took their lunches and headed to the car. Jaime scooped up Pia from her seat and scooted Hoster to move faster. Hoster pushed his silver rimmed glasses up on his nose again and followed his father out to the car.

\---------------------

“We’re running late, again.” The red haired girl huffed, her bangs fluttered in her words of disdain. “Miss Tyrell said if I am late again, she’s going to have to have a meeting with the social worker.”

Brienne understood the severity, but forcing her youngest to rush through his toiletries would mean a setback in all of the progress Pod had made. The threat didn’t worry her; the fact that it was made, did. Brienne was young herself; barely 27; university still a fresh memory on days when taking care of three foster children felt like too much for her still young mind. Most people her age took on cats. Brienne, however, always knew how to go hard or go home.

“You let me worry over Miss Tyrell.” Brienne retorted just as the bathroom door opened and three year old P{od emerged with his pants half done. Brienne mindlessly adjusted the boy’s clothes as she ushered the older girl out to the garage. “Get Arya in the car, and make sure she is double strapped in this time.”

Brienne had no clue how the three year old managed to get in and out of her car seat. It seemed no amount of seat belts nor super glue could hold Arya in place. Sansa was the elder of the two girls by seven years. But, she was 8 going on 30, a fact that drove Brienne to madness most of the time. It wasn’t her fault. Sansa had had to grow up fast at the loss of nearly her entire family. The only thing that had saved the girls had been Sansa’s own furious drive for survival. And, her ability to hide in tight spaces.

Brienne sighed as she hefted Pod onto her hip and ran out of the sliding door and into the postage stamp back yard. She knew she would have to find a bigger house soon, but her career as an emergency room nurse precluded any ideals of McMansions or even a bedroom for each child. 

Sansa sat in her seat next to Arya’s car seat. Her nine year old look of disdain carefully carved into her seemingly fragile features. “Can we have a dog?” she asked as Brienne buckled Pod into his seat.

It wasn’t the first time the girl had asked the question. The Stark children had had large Grand Pyronese dogs before the tragedy wiped out most of the family. The dogs had been long since residing in animal rescue shelters. Probably adopted by now. But, Brienne left that part out. Instead, she cringed at the idea of even one of them tearing through her too small house. “Sansa, we talked about this, before. We just don’t have the space.”

Sansa pouted, it was what she was good at. She had the right to pout after all she had been through. “We have the room at home.” Sansa threw. As if her childhood home hadn’t been sold to pay of the large debt of the parents. The kids had been left with nothing; an uncle missing in action, an aunt still residing in Sleepy Vale, too medicated to know what year it was. 

Brienne mentally counted backwards from ten, it was one of the tricks she had learned in parenting classes. She had not been required to take the classes, but she took them in the weeks before the state had deemed her house and life fit for the three children. “I know.” she smiled instead, “We just have to make do with what we have now.”

Sansa huffed, grabbed her pink backpack off the mud bench and slammed the door open. Brienne wished she could give the girl everything she wanted, but a nurse’s salary could only be spread so far. Three kids on an entry level salary was a strain, even with the extra shifts she could sometimes get away with when her neighbor Donyse had time keep the kids after hours. 

She exited the back door with Pod and their bags for day care. Wondering if this counted as a workout. She used to have so much time. But, that was before. 

They would be late for Sansa’s school, again. Even with dropping off Pod and Arya after dropping the nine year old at school. 

“Oh,” Sansa said from the back seat as the car idled outside of the school. “This is for you.”

Brienne took the note as Sansa jumped from her seat without another word. The note was from the hand of the Principal and had a date from last week. “Sansa!” Brienne fumed, realizing her lunch break would be spent in the Principal’s office.

Again.


	2. Golden Slumbers

The principal’s office looked no different from those at the private school’s he had attended in his young educational career. Jaime shifted in the hard plastic waiting room chair and tried not to feel affronted at the glare of the giantess in front of him. He could only assume that she was the mother of the wronged child he had been called into the office about. Jaime sighed and ran his hands through his blonde hair. He’d had to leave work early, leaving his younger brother in the lurch for an important board meeting. Since the death of their father over five years before, the pair struggled to move operations and development of the family business into something more befitting of the social expectations of the new millennium.

She continued to glare at him, this ugly woman with the angry daughter. He wondered how girls of her ilk managed to survive in a world where five year olds witness the rape and murder of their mothers, only to be victimized themselves. He wondered what this ugly woman had done to cause the girl’s anger. Was this large woman abusing this girl? Did she lash out at others after being harmed herself? 

The door to the office opened and the older woman stuck her head through . Principal Tyrell had been at this for more years than either of the parents had been alive. She wondered, not for the first time, how people like them even existed in this world. “Mr. Lannister, Ms. Tarth.’ She smiled. “Do come in.”

The private school had been recommended by the social worker. For children dealing with childhood traumas, most of the student body was special needs in some way. Jaime sent a searching look around the grand office of the principal. Her office recalled days of lazy afternoons on a sun porch, cake walks and ice cream socials. Jaime sat himself in the frilly chair alongside the tall blonde who, he was now certain, was in fact a woman.

“I’m certain that you are both aware why I have called you here, today?” Mrs. Tyrell asked. Jaime could see she must have been a great beauty. He nodded at the same time the younger woman beside him did. “We have to find some sort of mediation for the issues between your children.”

“Sansa has done nothing to warrant this treatment from a bully.” The tall blonde interjected.  
“My dear,” Mrs Tyrell spoke with the surety of a woman her age. “Your Sansa has given as much as she has gotten. “ 

____________

Brienne’s hands clenched, this woman across from her had no idea what Sansa and her sister had been through, what they had lost. Nearly an entire line of their family wiped out. “Sansa would--Sansa would only defend herself.”

“Please,” The blonde next to her drawled from his seat. She could hear the arrogance of privilege in his single word. “Just because she is a girl doesn’t mean she can’t be a bully/.”  
Brienne opened her mouth to protest that her words had been taken out of context. But, Mrs. Tyrell held up her ancient but tediously manicured hand. “No one is labeling anyone, anything.” The School Matron defended. “But, dear, Lew and Peck aren’t the only two children accusing your Sansa of…aggressive behaviors.”

If only the floor could open up and let her slide into oblivion. But them, who would take care of the two toddlers and the angry pre-teen? The golden haired next to her offered a smirk but wisely said nothing. “Mrs. Tyrell. Sansa and her sister came to me three years ago after a family…tragedy. I’ve had her in therapy since then. She has a lot of anger from…” Brienne cast a look at the other person in front of the principal’s desk. Brienne didn’t know who the man was, other than he was the father of Lew and Peck. “Sansa has had a rough go of it.”  
Mrs. Tyrell’s eyes turned suddenly kind, with a flash of something like sympathy. “We all know of the Stark’s troubles.” The man next to her turned and pricked up. He studied her from his position, a note of something familiar in his gaze.

“Listen, I’ll talk to my boys.” He said then. “We can come to some sort of mediation if need be”  
Brienne sighed. He knew, of course he knew. It had been big news when it happened three years ago. Entire family wiped out, save for two little girls. The older had slipped away into a closet with the baby, hiding her. They weren’t found until two days later, and had been in the house with their dead parents and siblings. She hated that look of pity in those wildfire eyes. It made her angrier than she should have been.

“There is no need for mediation or, any special dispensations.” Brienne rose and grabbed for her handbag. She had to get back to work before her lunch hour was completely eradicated. “I’ll make sure to deal with Sansa.”

Olenna Tyrell sighed. “Miss Tarth, we are trying to make a reasonable adjustments for all students.” She looked over at the man that Brienne still had not been properly introduced to. “Mr. Lannister, I am certain, understands to sensitivity of this.”

The older woman offered a pointed, yet unnecessary look at the blonde man. For Brienne, it all made sense then. Everything that Sansa had been going through of late, the dramatics. “It might be best to switch my boys’ classes so Sansa feels more comfortable.” 

Brienne was surprised at the offer. She had assumed it would be her Sansa switching classes. “They will still encounter each other on the playground, in the lunchroom. We can’t keep them separated for eternity.” She sighed, knowing this would end in her daughter being moved to another school; it was more upheaval that an already fragile Sansa could probably not face. “No, I think I need to find her a new school.”

“That’s entirely unnecessary.” Mr. Lannister drawled. “Mrs. Tyrell and I are more than willing to accommodate Sansa’s needs. But, the truth is, as Miss Tyrell has pointed out, she hasn’t only been acting out to Lew and Peck.” He turned beautiful green eyes on her, then. “Moving her is only delaying the inevitable in this situation.”

“What do you know?” she fired at him, suddenly overcome with the weariness she had been fighting off for the past three years. “You don’t know anything about taking up responsibilities. You and your kind—“

“My kind?” Jaime asked with a gentle smirk.

“Lannisters” she spat. “Kingslayer.”

Olenna Tyrell’s eyes shot up so fast they threatened to make a hole in the ceiling. R. Lannister’s face darkened into a scowl that Brienne was certain, he only reserved for garbage day and the poor. “Was wondering when that name would come about.” Jaime sighed. “Listen, do as you like. I don’t care.” He stood and eyed the principal with a shrug. “I’m willing to make any accommodations to help Sansa Stark adjust. But, I suggest something is done before she turns into a right psychopath.”

It was Mrs. Tyrell’s turn to stand. “I realize that when it comes to discussing one’s own children, tempers have a way of burning out of control.” She spoke in the voice she typically used with particularly dense high schoolers who were hell bent on destruction. “Both of you are taking this far to personally.” She glared at both adults who had the good sense to look properly chastised.

Olenna clapped her hands together and offered the infamous Tyrell smile. “Now, Mr. Lannister, while I do agree that transferring any student anywhere is not the best answer, I do hope you understand why your boys, with a last name of Lannister, would be an issue?”

“I do.” He nodded. “Which is why I—“

Mrs. Tyrell held up a hand. “Good, we are in agreement.” She turned her blue eyes to Brienne, who, had watched the proceedings in a haze, reminded of being On Tarth and having to explain why she beat up three boys from the football team. One of them actually transferred afterwards. The other two gave her a wide path even long after graduation.

“And, Ms. Tarth, it’s obvious that Sansa needs to work through whatever…issues that are going to continue to arise from her unique experiences.” Tyrell gentled her voice then. “We cannot keep them sheltered nor coddled, my dear; best to face these problems, head on.” Mrs. Tyrell smiled at the two of them. “I am going to provoke my right to amend an existing IEP.” She waved the documents for the three students. “And go so far as to suggest that, aside from recommended updates to the social workers, case supervisors and counsellors, that these three be slowly introduced to each other in less hostile settings. A way to quell the anxiety the girl is having to associate with Lannisters.”

Brienne and Mr. Lannister shared a look of uncertainty between them. “Nothing so untoward,” Mrs. Tyrell offered with a shake of her head. “Just, suggestions that they share some extra curricular activities. Maybe the same after school program.”

“You want them to spend more time together” Mr. Lannister asked, he glanced at Brienne. “No offence, Ms. Tarth, but I would rather keep my boys from possible socio- problems that may teach them bad behaviors.”

“Really?” Brienne fired. “As if being a Lannister isn’t sordid enough?”

“Settle down, dear.” Olenna Tyrell cooed from behind her desk. “We are going to hammer out a realistic solution. I will check with the usual team members for her case and see if this isn't doable.”

Brienne leaned back into her seat, always concerned when the people in sensible suits got involved. She nodded and rose again, her purse clutched in her hand. “I’ll need to get back to my shift. You’ll let me know?”

Tyrell nodded as Brienne turned on her heel and stormed out of the office. It wasn't until she’d reached the parking lot that she realized Mr. Lannister had been following closely behind. “Wait.” he said as he grabbed her arm.

Her glare at him and continued silence was enough for him to remove his hand. “Juat listen.” He said, holding up both arms in supplication. It was then that she realized the man only had one hand. Pity and shame warred with her weariness and irritation. “I’m sorry, Mr. Lannister, but `i really need to get back to work.”

The man nodded. “Just, one minute. Please.”

Brienne threw her purse into the seat of her car and turned to face him. “What is it?”

“Kids are hard.” He said. 

“Really?” Brienne rolled her eyes. “You came all this way to say that?”

Jaime huffed this time. “No, I mean. Look. Sansa has been through hell. I was...I recall what happened. It had been all over the news, even down here in the South.”

Brienne cut her eyes, wary of his familiarity. “What is it you want, Mr. Lannister?”

“The principal is right. Sansa needs more socialization.” He nodded sagely. “My youngest, Pia. She’s not doing too well with eating. The boys have been good with her, but…”

“Ser, in all honesty. I have about ten minutes left of my lunch hour and I haven’t had a chance to eat since last night. Please, get to your point.”

The man smiled, Brienne had been struck by his beautiful face during their meeting, but nothing could match his smile; nor, how the sun hit his hair and turned it to burnished gold. 

“Ah, straight to the point. Well, Ms. Tarth, I have an idea to help us all out.” He smiled brighter if that was possible. “If, you’re willing.”


End file.
